Drinking from Pythagoras’ Cup

Polymath Pythagoras (approximately 570BCE to 495BCE) – gifted mathematician who believed that the Universe was governed by numbers; discoverer of musical harmonies; founder of the teaching academy in Croton, Italy; and reputedly the first man to officially call himself a “philosopher” – also devised a cup: Pythagoras’s Cup.

The cup was created to demonstrate the principle of moderation in all things. Below its lip a line ran around the inner circumference indicating the level to which it should be filled – ensuring that students received the “goldilocks” quantity of sustenance – neither too little nor too much.

It was also known also as the “Greedy Cup” as those who attempted to fill above the line, got a nasty surprise. The central piece of the cup veiled a simple device* that if the cup was filled beyond the line of moderation caused the loss of ALL of its contents, not just the “excess”.  Thus, the “greedy” who sought more, ended up with nothing.

Embodied within the cup’s design are three principles.

1.The Law of Necessity:

What is it that we truly need in our evolutionary journey?  What constitutes enough?  The design of the cup invites a question: How do we discern our energetic relationship with Pythagoras’s inner line?

In the Agni Yoga Teachings it is said that:

“The thread of necessity runs throughout the worlds.”  Leaves of Morya’s Garden II, 275.

What if the profound thread of the Law of Necessity resides in the line embedded in the inner circumference of Pythagoras’s Cup?

Perhaps a connection can be made with the two kinds of logic: that of external reasoning where one learns from textbooks, and that of mental synthesis, by which one collects and links the sparks of spatial thought:

“These sparks may seem to be a happy accident, even though this “accident” may have been ripening in space for an entire century. The broadened consciousness provides the best possibility of grasping the nodes of spatial thought.

Of course, from the point of view of external reasoning, apparent lapses in the processes of mental synthesis can always be found. As rings of the spiral show to the observer the outer turns and conceal the inner turns, so mental logic proceeds according to the limits of the outer turns while the inner turns are still merged in the streams of collective thought in space. Hence, We take such care about the broadening of the consciousness, in order that union with spatial thought may be approached.” Agni Yoga, 361

Perhaps Pythagoras was making visible to his students in the form of an everyday vessel, an inner turn of the spiral of mental synthesis, a “turn” that holds a key to broader, deeper, spatial thinking that operates within Law of Evolutionary Necessity.

2. The Law of Equilibrium

Pythagoras’ Cup in ancient Greece was also known as the Cup of Justice. It represented the cosmic law that overstepping boundaries (hubris) results not only in the loss of the excess, but the loss of everything previously acquired (nemesis).

As the rules apply universally – regardless of the drinker’s status – Pythagoras’s Cup symbolises cosmic fairness and karmic balance.

“The Great Pilgrim used to emphasize the necessity of balance, and one might wonder if by this He meant cosmic equilibrium.” Supermundane, 169

Though a modest cup, it holds a profundity that reverberates from the everyday to the Cosmos.

3.The Law of Abundance.

What might be the relationship between the inner line of the cup as the indicative of the Law of Necessity in our evolutionary journey, and the Law of Abundance?

As mentioned, desiring more – that is, above the line of necessity – here results in loss of the excess, and of everything previously acquired.

What if abundance is not about the desire and receipt of more but instead energetically the frequency of precisely what is needed for our evolutionary journey?  What if, as we are nourished and sustained by the Aquarian Water of Life, we flow through Life – requiring and acquiring neither more or less – but simply immersing ourselves in the synthesis of what is – a realised state of being.

From the everyday to the stellar…Astrologer Andre Barbault in Planetary Cycles: Mundane Astrology has described an astrological alignment of planets to form a starry basket or cup that will take shape in the sky in Leo this year. It is a most auspicious configuration for this century, indicative of an extraordinary shift for Humanity to the true nature of sharing.

As we approach this moment in Leo when the planets configure to make visible a Cup or Chalice in the sky let us be nourished here on Earth by the ageless wisdom embodied in Pythagoras’s vessel. Let us be open to drinking in the sparks of spatial thinking… as we energetically experience the meeting of the Laws of Necessity, Equilibrium and Abundance in the inner line within this humble chalice.

The abundance of the Universe is available according to need. Rather than runneth over, our cups runneth through a realised state of Being in which we are immersed.

Watch short video at https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2c_-ijnwf6o

Acknowledgements:
All images are sourced from Adobe Stock.